Okay, normally, I try to brush off something like this; but since it's happened at least 4 times in the past two weeks, it needs to be addressed.
There are three of us girls at my job, managing the very hectic office. One girl works mainly checking the patients in and out and the other girl takes patients to the rooms and begins their appointment, so the task of handling the phones is left mainly to me. I take calls and make calls. (one of my more enjoyable tasks is to call the patients the day before their appointment to remind them of it - I use my perkiest voice to "ask that [they] please arrive fifteen minutes ahead of [their] scheduled appointment time" and such)
Well, anyway, much to my surprise - when the patients actually come in to the office for their appointments, a lot of them tell us girls or the doctor how kind and cheerful we are on the phone and what a pleasure it is to talk to us (I say "us", because the other girls do handle the phones too - it's not ALL me).
Very nice.
Except... There have been several instances that have all played out the exact same way (this scenario happened twice this very afternoon):
The patient (usually an elderly person) comes in and cheerfully - almost eagerly - gets up to the front counter to begin the check-in process. They *try to* casually ask the Front Desk Girl if she is "Jessie" or "the girl that called them yesterday to remind them of their appointment." She replies that she's not, and they emphatically gush that Jessie has the prettiest voice and is so lovely over the phone. The Front Desk Girl turns to get my attention so I can receive my compliment - but in the few nanoseconds before she can get the words out, I watch the patients' faces: they excitedly look at me - but not quite at me...more like around me - waiting for me to move so the girl with the face to match the beautiful voice can be seen. I see the shock when they realize the girl in front of them is the one they spoke with on the phone and I see them try to hide their disappointment. They kindly repeat their compliment of my voice, but leave it at that - no more gushing, no more eager glances.
I don't mind, really. It's actually kind of funny. Plus, I'm just glad that at least SOMETHING about me is attractive!
